Back to School for the 126th Time!

9/5/2018

One of Peck’s timeless traditions is the celebratory welcome we offer everyone in the community on the first day of school. As we entered our 126th year this week, that welcome continued to epitomize the school’s credo, “Consideration of Others.”

All of our rising eighth-grade students served as greeters at the Kindergarten and Lower School drop-off areas. As students exited their cars, our welcome team met them with a friendly handshake and exciting news about new homeroom assignments. All new Upper School students discovered a handwritten note of welcome taped to the rear of their cubbies. And in the Deetjen Kindergarten, students spent time after drop-off playing and reading stories with their new eighth grade buddies.

Head of School Andy Delinsky welcomed the school community in the first all-school assembly for the year.

“As we begin a new school year together at The Peck School, let us remember to celebrate each other, our classmates, our friends, our teachers, our parents, and our community,” said Head of School Andy Delinsky. “Let’s always be considerate of others. Let us look for ways to grow as people and as students through hard work and perseverance. Let us look at setbacks as opportunities, for we grow more from adversity and overcoming it rather than settling for what is easy.”

Another tradition at the first all-school gathering of the year is for the new student council president to address the community. Franklin Mau, a Peck student since kindergarten, welcomed his fellow students and the Peck community and added, “To my class of 2019, this is our last year together. Enjoy it. Remember it. Cherish it. And most importantly, have fun. This year will be full of challenges and surprises, but at the end, it will be filled with accomplishment.”

He concluded with a quote from Les Brown, “If you set goals and go after them with all the determination you can muster, your gifts will take you places that will amaze you.”

Throughout the course of opening day, numerous members of the Peck community paused outside the construction fence to remark on the rapid progress taking place on The rising Peck Commons. The skeleton of the steel structure and roof took form rapidly over the summer—and as the building takes shape our community can see the promise of the new capital campaign taking hold.

The Peck Promise: The Campaign for Excellence Elevated symbolizes the forward momentum of our character-building and academic program. The new campus master plan supports essential and exciting curricular advancements that will foster the timely transformation our students deserve as they grow into high school students, college graduates, and responsible citizens of the world.